


Stars in the sky

by A_Nobelmonster



Series: Dead Ravens don't break [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Abuse, Disordered Eating, Gen, kinda character study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 13:46:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13101435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Nobelmonster/pseuds/A_Nobelmonster
Summary: the ravens always remind me of Hercules, the cartoon with Phil promising to make him a hero. I dunno that’s where I’m going with the title and imagery for this, though.





	Stars in the sky

As a child, Riko learns to become very invested in numbers.

To make four goals or assists during practice.

To eat 1,500 calories to allow for proper muscle development.

To count thirty strikes of the Master’s cane when Riko errors.

Evermore is a paradox of absolute control and none at all. Riko is completely at his uncle’s mercy who is at Lord Kengo’s mercy.

Tetsuji vents his frustration into the virgin sinew of Riko’s back

Though Riko is so childlike in his cruel rage, in the desperation for visibility in his father’s eyes, it is weird to think of him as a child. Tetsuji never did.

Riko knows Japanese, English and American Sign Language by High School. He’s adept at flower arrangement and tea ceremony with the scars to prove it. Tetsuji needn’t ever bribe Rikos tutors for good marks, he has always had an A average and see’s to it that Kevin does as well when he comes along.

A sad mess of a monster but he is a bright boy and if he had not been born into a position of pseudo-power he would still innately draw others with the sheer force of his determination to be the best.

Kevin respects Riko in fear induced awe. Jean follows with surrendered obedience that mimics the reverence one has for the sea or a volcano. A knowledge that death is always possible.

At eleven, when newly arrived Jean has fallen to the floor in anguish that soaks his face Riko crouches down with his softly extended and imploring earnest eyes “Give your obedience to me, I will make you the best.”

A pretty doll parroting pretty words used over the years to run a little boy into the ground. It works. Riko speaks with conviction that suggests its the will of god. it is imminent.

Thirteen. Riko backhands Kevin when he suggests that a more experienced player show freshmen the Raven drills. The fingers that grip Kevins face lack baby fat that will soften the metamorphosis of puberty. He is already becoming harsh lines. “Don’t forget who you belong to .”

When Jean had come along both Kevin and him had been given to Riko to oversee. They were as much Riko’s dolls as they were his family. For Riko who has been passed over by biological relations being given and holding onto the other boys was an intoxicating endeavor constantly threatened with fear.

Fear of what Tetsuji would do if he did not train his perfect court perfectly enough. Fear of not being able to break them down to be remolded in a better image. Riko’s touch starved heart would not allow it so it is not a sense of born unkindness that drives him to remind Kevin of his place. It’s love.

They have all become so twisted like bamboo shoots wound in an outwardly attractive matter. Kevin who loves and adores and hates Riko stills. Feels guilt heavy in his heart at the burden his teenage insolence causes his chosen brother.

Feels the cause and effect when Tetsuji who witnesses this as always forces Riko to run laps until the hour times runs out. Until the blood in his shoes from blisters cause him to stumble forwards ungracefully.

They are all jealous mortals feigning the power of gods with inhumane pettiness. Monstrous. Caustic.

And Riko in his heart knows this as he always has and so he loves numbers. He replies on them. Clings to them to keep him afloat.

Only 212 days until he becomes captain.

45 days until Kevins birthday.

Countable things are safe. They are controllable. Those things are within the reach of his bound hands.

Control is a volatile idea because Riko is always chasing after it.

He finds a shred of it when he logs his meals into his black book. A smidge of it when his eye’s ache with fatigue, throat burning as he opens up to the toilet. A shard when he calculates that he has burned enough with his workout.

The numbers never lie or have to be taught there place.

They exist allowing Riko to abide by them when the tiredness he feels cannot be fixed with any amount of alcohol.

In his small family, there is Kevin his brother, Jean his property, The Master his care-giver and the numbers.

#1

It’s all that matters when one is born to be set against the stars so that they must willingly bleeding divine and focused.


End file.
